September

We continued our journey down the road. I was whistling, thinking that the end was finally near. I’d been thinking maybe a break wouldn’t be so bad after all. I’m old, my wounds won’t stop reopening, I keep getting hit, my lungs are failing, and most of my bones are probably broken. I don’t know where, but spending my last days in peace wouldn’t be the worst thing. The general probably wouldn’t like that—he’d tell me to look for another mission—but to hell with it, I make my own choices.

I’d like to stick around with my nephews, assuming they don’t bother me too much, but I doubt their mother wants me near them for much longer. I’ve already been a bad influence long enough. She hates me—deeply. I’m sure she wants her kids to be normal for what little time is left, but in these conditions, that seems impossible.

Anyway, I’ve decided: after this, I’m retiring.

“Jasoooon!!!”

Shit. I had to open my mouth.

A furious scream, impossible to mistake, echoed down the road. I’d only heard that voice two or three times before, but I already knew who it was.

I looked out the window and saw a man riding a motorcycle full speed, keeping up with our van. He had a sword in his hand, wore a kimono, and his long black hair flowed in the wind.

I rolled down the window and spoke cordially:

“Hey, Kazu. What’s up? Did your mom finally kick you out of the castle after getting tired of you playing samurai?”

“Ha, idiot! She’s the one who sent me here! You really pissed her off this time!”

Why is it that every time I break up with a woman, she takes it personally? So resentful. Oh right—also dismantled her entire criminal empire. But I bet she’s more mad I left her. No one resists my charm.

“Well, she can come talk to me face-to-face like a normal adult.”

“Oh no, she’ll never let your filthy face show up again!”

“Look, I know we were loud at night and we didn't let you sleep, but that was her fault. Don’t take it out on me. By the way, how’s your mom doing? Don’t tell me she’s pregnant and wants me to take responsibility? Though, I doubt that’s even possible at her age.” I said, thoughtfully.

“You bastard! Don’t you dare disrespect her!”

Fueled by rage, he swerved his motorcycle closer and started ramming it into our van.

“You didn’t have to make him angry, Uncle Jason,” Andrew said, shaking behind the wheel.

“But I didn’t say anything bad. Keep your heads down, kids. This is going to get rough.”

I grabbed a shotgun from the back seat among the supplies and aimed out the window.

But it was no use. Kazu dodged the buckshot by speeding up or used his enhanced sword to deflect the blasts.

“Ha! I’m not the same as before. I’ve been refining my power all month and fought in the RedCage!” he shouted, full of himself.

“That doesn't take take the fact that you are just a kid to my eyes.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He moved closer, touching the van. At his touch, the vehicle began to slow down, smoke pouring out, strange noises echoing from the engine—it was like he reversed his power over it. But the best part...

“Well, at least you got rid of that horrible paint job,” I said cheerfully.

“You don’t understand what’s happening,” he said like a know-it-all.

He raised his sword and charged it, making it grow larger and sharper.

“Out! Now!” I yelled, grabbing my nephews and jumping from the van.

Even so, Kazu slashed his sword and sliced the van in two, making it crash and explode. With the explosion behind us, we were thrown toward a nearby rock.

My vision was blurry, and my head spun with pain as I searched for my nephews. After a moment, I saw them, hurt and unconscious. I crawled toward them, coughing. Just as I reached out my hand, a sword pierced it. I screamed in pain and looked up to see Kazu staring down at me coldly.

“Come on, coward, kill me,” I said, gasping.

“With pleasure—but that’s not my order,” he said, grabbing my nephews and walking away. “Must be satisfying not having these little brats bothering you anymore.”

“Stop! No! Kill me instead, you bastard!” I screamed, passing out and praying this was all just a nightmare.

I woke up gasping for air.

I looked around—no, it wasn’t a dream. I was alone, after so long. I tried to get up, but my broken bones wouldn’t let me.

“Come on, come on!” I yelled in frustration. “Damn it, only I get to call my nephews brats! Sure, they’re annoying sometimes, but without them, my last months on this Earth would’ve been dull and repetitive. They’re my joy! Okay, johan, you were right! I admit it! So give me strength if you don’t want your kids enslaved by degenerates!”

With those words, I stood up and lit a cigarette. Kazu’s bike was gone, and there were no tracks I could follow.

“Think, damn it. Think,” I said, hitting my head.

Then I remembered something Aoi said during our time at the castle. Originally, Kazu was supposed to bring us to a Paradise Castle outpost near our destination. But I didn’t know exactly where it was. Well, time to go with the usual plan—ask questions first, shoot later. I’d interrogate the ultramutants in the area to find out where the outpost was and hope my nephews were still there and hadn’t already been moved.

After limping along for a while, I reached a city crawling with ultramutants. As soon as they saw me, they all attacked. But I tossed a few grenades and sent them flying. Some were still alive on the ground. I walked over and pointed my gun. They sang like birds—and of course, I shot them after. Who’d leave animals like that alive?

I made my way to the outpost. It was a miniature version of Paradise Castle. I pounded on the metal door, trying to ignore the pain from my wounds. A small hatch opened in the door, and I saw the eyes of the guard.

“Password?” he asked in a deep voice.

“Does the name Jason Carson ring a bell?” I replied, not knowing the actual password.

The door opened, and there stood the guard—a bald, tattooed man—looking at me with joy.

“No way! The former RedCage champion! I thought you’d retired! Hey, thanks to you, I won a ton of supplies and bought myself a bunch of women! I’m a huge fan! My name is—”

“Stop,” I cut him off, showing him my hand. “You’ll get an autograph later, or whatever you want. But I need to know—Is Kazu here?”

“Oh yeah, he came in with some new merchandise. He’s in the back. Looked pretty sick.”

“Thanks,” I said sincerely—then pointed my gun at his head.

A loud bang echoed through the compound, and the guard collapsed in a pool of blood.

“No one calls my nephews ‘merchandise,’” I muttered, spitting on his face.

He seemed like a decent guy—but I was in a very bad mood.

I stepped inside, and alarms started blaring all around. They must’ve heard the gunshot, and soon, a swarm of ultramutants came at me.

Two giant, hairy mutants with claws lunged toward me. I ducked, and they slammed into each other.

Their heads collided with a sickening crunch, and they collapsed, concussed. I shot both in the head with my revolvers.

A laser beam zipped past me—I dodged it just in time. One of the ultramutants was firing them from his hand. I shot him in the hand to stop the blasts, then took the chance to rush in and stab him.

I kept moving forward when a man appeared and began multiplying into dozens of versions of himself—each more grotesque than the last. I didn’t even bother. Threw a grenade and sent them all flying, bloody and broken.

I pushed on until I reached a door, out of which leaped a man with beast-like abilities.

“Here comes Peter the Beast to take his revenge!” he shouted with enthusiasm.

I didn’t even focus on who he was—I grabbed him by the neck.

“Wait, not the smile again!” he cried, sobbing.

I didn’t care. I threw him into a wall and shot him in the legs so he couldn’t move.

Exhausted, I entered the room at the end of the hall.

There sat Kazu, slouched in a chair, sword in hand, staring at me seriously. He looked different than before—emaciated and sickly, like he couldn’t even stand on his own.

Behind him were my nephews, tied up in a cage, cloths in their mouths to keep them quiet. When they saw me, they began crying and screaming with joy.

I waved at them and turned to Kazu.

“You look like shit,” I said bluntly.

“So do you,” he replied, eyeing my wounds.

“What happened to you? You seemed fine just a few hours ago.”

“I wasn’t. I was holding it together in front of you. Before we left, my mother made me take way too many PowerMax pills… to defeat you.”

“Idiot. Taking more than one might make you stronger for a while, but soon after, it’ll kill you—not even mutate you, just kill you. Seriously, why would you do that?”

“My mother is everything to me. But ever since she met you, she’s been different. Depressed or furious—her emotions flip, and she won’t talk to me. All I could do was follow her orders.”
He started coughing up blood. “But now I see this power isn’t worthy of a warrior. That’s why… before I die, I want one last fight with you. Quick, I don’t have much time. And my mother is on her way here with Paul and Santos to kill your nephews. She wants to enjoy taking away from you what you love most"

He pulled out a hidden sword and tossed it to me. He grabbed his own and took a battle stance.

“You really watch too many samurai movies. But hey, who am I to deny a man his last wish?” I said, picking up the katana.

“Didn’t you call me a kid earlier?”

“Did I? Must’ve been mistaken.”

We faced off. We approached slowly, dragging ourselves—both barely standing.

We clashed swords over and over. He never used his powers, but his time was clearly running out. So was mine. I didn’t want to face Paul and Santos.

At one point, he lunged at me. I dodged, slashed his chest, and blood burst everywhere. He began to fall, but I caught him and gently sat him back in his chair.

“Thank you…” he whispered, closing his eyes for the last time.

With that settled, I ran to the cage and freed my nephews. They hugged me tightly.

“You guys okay? They didn’t touch a hair on your heads, right?” I asked, stroking their heads.

“They didn’t lay a finger on us,” said Rick.

“But you need to rest, Uncle! You’re bleeding out!” Andrew shouted, panicked.

“Doesn’t matter. We need to get out first.”

We left through the back door—and there was Kazu’s motorcycle. A parting gift.

We hopped on and rode off. But midway through the forest, we ran out of gas. We were in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, no one seemed to be chasing us anymore. We got off and walked into the woods. My nephews ran ahead, urging me to hurry.

But my vision started to blur, and I collapsed from exhaustion. My eyes began to close.

Shit… I hope I don’t sleep for too long.